The Otoe County Sheriff's Office reports issuing a record number of gun permits since the Dec. 14 shooting of 20 children at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn.

In a typical month, the sheriff's office issues 10 to 20 permits to purchase a handgun. In the four weeks since the shooting, the sheriff's office has issued over 60 permits.

Otoe County Sheriff Jim Gress said there always seems to be a surge of interest for gun permits whenever the federal government discusses changes to the nation's gun laws.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations reports that background checks for firearm purchases were at an all-time high in December.

The FBI reports that 2.8 million background checks were completed for those seeking to buy firearms in December, compared to 1.9 million in December of 2011.

The sheriff's office reports that usually all of the permit applications come from people who already own guns, but many of the applications in December came from people who had not had permits before.